Love Cells (2)
Noah was thoroughly thrown.
A ponytail swept off to the right. Makeup and styling straight out of an idol's playbook. Unless she'd taken a bullet to the head sometime in the last two weeks, that was Natsumi — the same girl who'd gone pink in the face two weeks ago, mumbling that she didn't have any friends.
"......Tanaka?"
Chise was just as stunned. She spoke as if she couldn't quite believe her eyes.
...What on earth happened in the meantime?
Of course, Noah knew Suzuki's shock therapy worked fast. Any thinking human being who survived an encounter with Suzuki would come away thinking, I am never, ever ending up like that guy. But she had never imagined the change would be this drastic.
"Micchan, you're still so cute~"
"M-Micchan?"
Natsumi skipped over and patted Noah on the head.
Noah's eyes went wide. But after what she'd said to Yuria just a few minutes ago, she couldn't bring herself to resist.
Natsumi turned to her friends.
"Ah, sorry. I've got something to take care of with Micchan real quick."
"What? Nacchi, we were gonna do karaoke."
"Sorry, sorry."
Natsumi waved with a sheepish little laugh, then took Noah's hand without the slightest hesitation.
"Let's go to the clubroom! I've got another problem I need advice on."
Drowning in shock and horror, Noah was dragged away.
Any thought of the bet had long since evaporated.
Chise swallowed hard and stole a glance at Natsumi, then set a lemonade down on the table.
"Thanks."
Natsumi lifted a hand in greeting, crossed her legs, and downed the lemonade.
...Did I just do one person a kindness and create this?
There was no way this was the same person. Yuria couldn't hold it in any longer.
"What... happened in the meantime?"
"Ahaha."
Natsumi gave an awkward laugh and waved it off.
"I'd rather not talk about back then. Super embarrassing phase."
That was two weeks ago?!
The three members of the disciplinary committee all thought the same thing at once and looked at each other.
"How do I put it... I guess I, like, woke up after seeing that creepy upperclassman? I'm seriously grateful to you guys. You saved a life, I mean it! Ahaha."
That... doesn't sound quite right...?
Thankfully she hadn't gotten a tan yet, but the way she talked was pure gyaru.
The first to recover from the shock was Noah.
Better than being all bottled up, I guess.
Taking Natsumi's transformation as a positive, she asked,
"You said you wanted advice?"
"Mhm! Micchan's advice level is, like, insanely high. I trust you."
Noah, whose self-esteem had taken a beating on several fronts lately, felt a little better hearing that.
"Well. You've got an eye for people, I'll give you that. Spit it out. I'll hear you out."
"Ehh. This is kinda embarrassing to say..."
Natsumi fidgeted, then just went for it.
"I guess I found someone I wanna have sex with."
"......"
"......"
"......"
A cold wind swept through the disciplinary committee room.
"Ahaha! Your faces are hilarious! Joke, joke. Like I'd already be thinking about that, right?"
Natsumi's face was flushed as she sucked down more lemonade.
No matter how you look at it, she meant that...
Noah was rattled, but she played it off with a cough.
"So you mean you found someone you like?"
"Yes! That's it, that's it! That's what I was trying to say."
It felt like something had gotten rather badly lost in translation, but Noah answered with total confidence.
"That's my specialty. You came to the right person."
"Eh? Micchan, you've got a lot of dating experience?"
Noah blinked.
She did not, in fact.
That included her previous life.
She'd been too busy surviving, and by the time life had gotten decent enough to think about it, she'd woken up here.
"No? But it's not that I couldn't. I just didn't. Advice is no problem at all. If I put my mind to it, I could even seduce a god."
Noah was completely unfazed.
"Uhyahahaha! For real?"
"Yeah."
"That's hilarious!"
Natsumi clutched her stomach laughing. Man, coming to Micchan was the right call, she said.
Noah was puzzled.
Why is she laughing?
For the record, she had been completely serious.
Natsumi asked, a little nervous.
"Then tell me! What do I have to do to date someone?"
In that instant, Chise's eyes lit up.
This was the exam-writer walking them through the answers. A leaked answer key, basically. Chise was ready to be the perfect pupil.
"The easiest way to get someone to like you is to show them you like them."
Noah said it with easy confidence.
"People usually can't help feeling something when the other person tells them they like them. Even if they don't, they can't just brush it off. At the very least, you can make an opening."
Natsumi asked, looking unsure.
"Hmm... like what, for example?"
"Well, something like this."
Noah started to turn toward Chise for a demonstration, then thought better of it — she'd only get it thrown back in her face — and turned to Yuria instead.
With her tiny hands she grabbed Yuria's shoulders and tipped her back.
Pastel pink hair brushed softly against Yuria's pale cheek.
Noah met her eyes and said, low and quiet,
"I like you, Icchi. Go out with me."
"......!"
Yuria's heart hammered.
Her pupils blew wide. Her body shrank in on itself.
The only thought in her head was,
...She's so white.
This close, Noah's skin wasn't just pale — it looked almost translucent.
Chise and Yuria were fair too, but Noah's complexion was a shade brighter still.
For some reason, Yuria found herself wanting to flush that skin red. Like a peach.
"...Okay."
Yuria turned her head, shy.
Noah stood up with a see how easy that was look and shrugged.
"See?"
"W-wow! Micchan, that's amazing! Even I would've fallen for that."
"......"
Having just watched her fiancée get stolen in real time, Chise stared at Yuria with dead eyes.
As of today, you are my enemy.
Then she laid a hand on Noah's thigh and whispered against her ear.
"If you cheat, I won't forgive you."
"!"
Noah flinched.
Her legs snapped together.
A very bad feeling. She looked at Chise — those pupils had gone cloudy.
Noah sat up ramrod straight.
Crap. I set her off.
She'd gotten a little too enthusiastic about Natsumi's request.
"Hmm... doing it like Micchan might actually work."
"R-right? This was just a simple little test..."
"But..."
Natsumi touched her cheek and looked away. Just imagining herself doing what Noah had done was mortifying.
"How am I supposed to do something like that."
...Was what I just did really that big a deal?!
Noah's hands trembled faintly.
The second she walked into the dorm tonight...
Something terrible was going to happen to her. That much was obvious.
I-I need to walk this back.
"W-what? It's no big deal, okay? Anyone can do it. I'd do it to anyone..."
"This is my fault. I gave my fiancée too much leash."
Chise muttered it under her breath.
"...Well, not to just anyone. But if the other person shows even a little interest, it's a simple enough gesture..."
"Guess confinement really is the only option."
"Ch-Chise?"
Noah finally couldn't take it. She looked at Chise with wavering eyes.
Chise beamed and tilted her head, as if nothing had happened.
"Hm? Noah."
"W-what did you just say."
"Nothing."
"B-but just now you definitely...!"
"I said it was nothing, Minamoto Noah."
Chise was smiling.
Only with the corners of her mouth.
Cold sweat rolled down Noah's back.
Is this the moment I do my first-ever dogeza?
She didn't know what she'd done wrong, but Chise was angry. This was unprecedented. In her entire life she had never once seen Chise lose her temper.
What do I do. What do I do.
Noah swallowed and leaned into Chise, deploying her sure-kill cute offensive...
"Sorry."
"...!"
What fate am I looking at here?!
Chise sat Noah back up straight and smiled.
"It's already too late."
"...Micchan? Chii-chan?"
"Yes, Miss Tanaka."
Natsumi had been in a state of acute embarrassment ever since imagining herself using Noah's extreme method. She twisted her hair around her finger, then realized — she'd hesitated out of embarrassment once before, too.
And she'd gotten what she wanted by pushing through that embarrassment, hadn't she?
Embarrassment lasts a moment. Regret lasts a lifetime.
Natsumi made up her mind and stood, her face set.
"I... I've decided."
She'd resolved herself so hard she'd even dropped the gyaru speech.
"I'm going to confess. Thank you for the advice again."
Noah, who'd been hoping to use Natsumi somehow to explain herself, started trembling in the arms the moment she vanished.
"H-huh? Where did Tanaka-senpai go?"
Yuria, who had been stunned into a daze by Noah's honey trap, finally came back to herself.
"She left, Miss Ichinose."
"I see..."
"Why don't you go with her, Miss Ichinose?"
"Why would I..."
Yuria blinked.
Then she looked at Chise and flinched.
It was that same bone-chilling feeling from last time.
"Senpai...?"
"Hm? Miss Ichinose."
"Why are you suddenly adding 'Miss'...?"
Chise took an elegant sip of tea.
Yuria had the distinct illusion that Chise's already-dark pupils had gone even blacker.
She swallowed. There had to be a reason the atmosphere had flipped like this.
Don't tell me it's because of just now?
Yuria's instincts in this particular arena were razor-sharp, and she pieced it together immediately. That was the only thing Chise could possibly be angry about.
I don't get it.
She'd just given a kouhai a little service, that was all.
She couldn't even do that much?
Yuria's cheeks puffed out.
It wasn't like they were strangers. She'd thought they'd gotten reasonably close, and now Chise was slapping "Miss" on her name over one little bit.
It was hurtful, and also just ridiculous.
Honestly, at this point it was a sickness. The obsession with Noah had gone way too far.
And that feeling, filtered through Yuria's particular brand of pride, mutated into something else entirely.
I don't want to lose.
Yuria casually rested her head on Noah's shoulder.
"......"
Crunch.
Chise ground her molars.
She looked at Yuria through narrowed eyes.
"Ichinose. Get that head off her."
"Minamoto-senpai is not Fujiwara-senpai's property."
"...Did you not listen properly last time?"
"I listened just fine. Minamoto-senpai is the one with the initiative, isn't she?"
Yuria said it with a bright smile.
"Then it's Minamoto-senpai's call. If she's just sitting there, doesn't that mean it's fine?"
Looking furious, Chise yanked on Noah's arm.
Noah's small body was pulled along, and Yuria nearly toppled sideways.
Fine. You want to do this, senpai?
Yuria grabbed Noah's other arm and pulled back.
"Noah is mine. You insolent Ichinose!"
"Ha. Senpai can say that all she wants — it's not even a little scary."
Noah, feeling herself get yanked back and forth, thought,
...Maybe I should just give up.
When I get home, I'll do the dishes.
She might forgive me then.